The bitterly cold weather yesterday brought a couple of dozen fieldfares and several redwings to the garden, as well as 20 or so starlings, all feasting on windfall apples and the berries of a large cotoneaster. By this morning, soon after dawn, every cotoneaster berry had gone, and yet they'd been hanging uneaten all winter until now! So there's been some pretty spectacular and aggressive competition on and beneath the apple tree today, where there is still plenty of fruit.
The redwings have also been foraging in fallen leaves - they're so well camouflaged (as per photo) that we would barely have known they were there were it not for the leaves being scattered in all directions.
Not a single brambling, blackcap or greenfinch so far, and no siskins this week at all, but good numbers of goldfinch and up to 9 redpoll jostling for the niger seed.
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